Mariane Weber

Mariane Weber was just six years old when she made her first pumpkin pie. Nineteen years later, she's now a prep cook and garde-manger at Le Baccara, one of Quebec's highest-rated restaurants.

And if you are lucky enough to be invited to dinner on one of her rare days off at home, you are likely to be treated to a fancy three-course meal involving foie gras, seafood and lamb - finished off with simple, oven-baked apples.

"I love the fact that you mix ingredients together and it makes something memorable," says Weber, 25.

Weber is one of six young chefs working at the Canada Pavilion during Expo 2010 in Shanghai, under the leadership of Wayne Murphy. Recommended by La Cité Collégiale in Ottawa, where she initially enrolled in the culinary arts program "just for fun," Weber was among those chosen to represent Canada, in part because she thrives on the adrenalin rush of cooking in a busy kitchen.

Initially, when she enrolled at La Cité Collégiale, she planned on just taking a break for a year before her plan to go to university to become an accountant. Then cooking took over.

"I just fell in love with it," Weber confesses. "I love to eat, I love to please people, I love the service."

Weber's father was also a cook, and she grew up in the village of Masham, Que., eating homemade meals and fresh vegetables from the family garden.

"I have good cooking memories," Weber says.

Like other members of Canada's culinary program at the Pavilion, Weber has competed in cooking competitions, including an international Chaîne des Rôtisseurs contest in New York City in October 2009, where she represented Canada. During the competition, Weber had to open a box of ingredients and make a three-course meal from whatever was inside the box - all in three hours, under the watchful eyes of 10 judges in the kitchen, as well as the tasters.

She pulled off a fish entrée with goat cheese sauce and red pepper coulis, as well as scallop cannelloni, chicken stuffed with foie gras accompanied by blueberry sauce, and a chocolate ganache "mille-feuilles" with orange cookies for dessert.

"I didn't win, but it was quite an experience," says Weber. "We got to meet people from Hong Kong, from Africa, from Colombia."

That trip whetted her appetite for Shanghai, and her desire to show Canadian cuisine to the world.

"It's exciting, and I am proud to represent my country," Weber says. "I think we have a lot to offer."